ACIFITFDB – Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Who Hits People with a Femur Bone?

The city at night was resplendent with neon lights, the sky dyed a hazy glow, a complete light pollution.

But darkness never truly receded; it lingered in every corner of the city. Take the alley where the dog was just rescued, for instance. Without any lights on in the surrounding residences, not a sliver of illumination could be seen.

Perhaps it was because it was too dark that the dog had never been rescued.

Qin Xian stood by the window, looking down for a while. He picked up his jacket, put it on, and prepared to go out.

He had too many questions in his mind, but pondering at home wouldn’t yield any answers. It was better to go out for a walk.

It was the dead of night, the time when demons and ghosts emerged.

“Awooo…”

The dog’s bark interrupted Qin Xian’s motion to open the door. It seemed to be trying hard to assert its presence, reminding its owner that there was another living creature in the house.

An ordinary person might have rushed forward to comfort and pet it. But Qin Xian’s heart was no softer than wood. He glanced at the balcony, confirmed the dog was alright, and then closed the door and left.

Music from the downstairs residents’ fitness area, the thumping rhythm of square dancing, reached Qin Xian as he descended. He headed in the opposite direction of the sound.

It wasn’t just Qin Xian who disliked noisy environments. These crowds of retirees, who had companions and the energy and health to dance, were not favored by the aberrant either.

Aberrant entities fed on human negative emotions. The more negative emotions there were, the easier it was to attract them. Hospitals, office buildings, some schools, and so on.

Qin Xian opened his map app, searched for the nearest hospital, and then slowly wandered in that direction.

He actually didn’t want to deal with aberrant entities anymore. His dream was to return to the normal world and live a peaceful life. But at present, doubt and unease drove him to act.

It was a shame that this hospital wasn’t well-known and didn’t have many patients. Qin Xian seized the opportunity of the security guard yawning and slipped inside. After half a circle, he saw nothing unusual. Even the inpatient department had only a few people, and the doctor on duty was asleep at his desk.

Everything was normal.

“Tsk.” Qin Xian walked out, displeased. As he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a vegetable market next door. On a meat stall, two unsold, enormous beef femur bones were displayed. Fresh beef for tomorrow was being butchered nearby, and as the sharp knives cut down, the living muscle still twitched like worms.

Residual blood spread on the ground, adding to the stains on the ground that was already covered with a layer of black grease.

Every day, several animals were dismembered and chopped here… Meat scraps and blood flowed on the ground, washed away by water, but some residue always stuck to the ground.

Day after day, customers stepped on the ground, their shoe soles producing a disgusting sticky sensation.

“Hey handsome, are you buying meat?”

Qin Xian jolted awake, clenched his slightly numb hand, and confirmed that what was before him was just a perfectly normal vegetable market.

“If you’re not buying, please stand further away. We have things to do,” the meat stall owner grumbled unhappily.

Qin Xian looked at the stall. The meat on the two femur bones still had some residue, but it didn’t look very fresh.

This kind of thing, dogs would probably like it very much… Taking it back, washing it, and roasting it on the gas stove would keep that dog busy for a long time.

He said to the owner, “I want these two bones.”

“You want these?” the vendor asked suspiciously. “Not some fresh beef? Just slaughtered, very rare.”

Qin Xian’s expression was blank. The cash he had brought out probably wasn’t enough to buy meat.

A few minutes later, Qin Xian bought the two large bones from the vendor at a low price.

Coming out for a trip, he finally had something to show for it. Next, he would wander around and find a pet store to buy some affordable dog food.

But before he had walked far, Qin Xian heard the distant wail of police sirens. A black Santana and two police cars with sirens blaring were reenacting a movie scene. The Santana was desperately trying to shake off its pursuers, even driving off the road and onto the sidewalk. A fire hydrant was hit with a bang, and a stream of water shot out.

Qin Xian was the only person standing on the sidewalk. The Santana, completely disregarding his presence, charged straight at him. An anxious shout came from the police car behind: “Get out of the way! Hurry, get out of the way!!”

As the danger drew closer, Qin Xian neither fled nor dodged. Instead, he pulled out a beef femur bone, used his right foot as a pivot, spun it fiercely, and threw the bone with all his might.

The beef femur bone turned into a white streak and flew out with a “whoosh.” The Santana’s windshield suddenly shattered, the entire car lost control, veered into a flower bed, and crashed into a utility pole with a “bang.”

The police cars behind braked hard and stopped. Several police officers rushed out with their guns drawn, approaching the Santana.

“Stop! Police!”

“Cease your resistance immediately and get down! Otherwise, we will open fire!!”

Qin Xian, watching from afar, frowned. Suddenly, a man in black shot out of the car and sprinted away from the police cordon at incredible speed.

“Stop! Don’t move! Otherwise, we will open fire!!”

The police gave chase, and seeing no crowds around, they fired two shots at the man. But the figure in front didn’t stop, clearly not hit.

Qin Xian, on the opposite side, saw everything clearly. It wasn’t that the police were poor shots, but that this man dodged the two bullets with superhuman reaction speed.

“Hahahaha! Trash!” the man in black roared with laughter, turning his head and provocatively giving the police the middle finger.

But as soon as he turned back, his heart stopped in shock. Someone had appeared in front of him, wielding a massive femur bone and swinging it fiercely.

The speed, the distance!!!

“Dong!!!” A flash of white crossed the man’s vision, and then he knew nothing more.

The pursuing police officers slowed down, their expressions bewildered as they looked at this courageous passerby. This person had actually knocked out the suspect with a femur bone??

Looking down, the pathetic man in black lay on the ground with his eyes half-open. His front teeth were all gone, and blood gushed from his collapsed nose, his appearance utterly tragic.

“Uh…” The police officer holstered his gun, momentarily speechless.

“You’re welcome,” Qin Xian replied first, his voice as calm as if he had just passed by and picked something up for someone.

He put the femur bone into a plastic bag and rubbed his fingers.

The grease on his hands was sticky and disgusting.

He should have wrapped the bone in a plastic bag from the start.

“What did he do?” Qin Xian tried to ignore the feeling of revulsion and gestured towards the man in black.

His medium-length hair was casually tied back with a hair tie, draped over one shoulder. It had come half undone due to his vigorous movements.

His face, illuminated by the flashing red and blue lights of the police car, looked exceptionally beautiful and delicate, giving no indication that he was a fierce individual capable of breaking someone’s face with a femur bone on the street.

Facing such a person, the police officer felt a little intimidated. He stammered, “Uh, he, this person just robbed a shopping mall.”

“Was it just an ordinary robbery?” Qin Xian emphasized his question.

“Huh? Ordinary? Robbing a shopping mall is still uncommon these days, isn’t it? And he dared to speed through the streets after robbing it.” The police officer seemed confused.

“In any case, comrade. Thank you for your bravery!”

“No need to thank me. May I go over there to find my other bone?” Qin Xian calmly pointed to the pathetic Santana, whose hood had popped up not far away.

“Ah… Ah? What bone?”

The police officer followed Qin Xian to the car. He saw Qin Xian step onto the car, rummage through the wrecked vehicle, and pull out another beef femur bone.

Police officer: ???

So the car crashing into the utility pole was also this person’s doing?!

Qin Xian looked at the bone. “Ah, it can’t be eaten anymore.”

Numerous broken glass fragments were embedded in it. Giving it to the dog would be killing it.

He held the femur bone, turned, and raised it to the police officer. “Do you need this? As evidence?”

“Ah… Ah? No, uh, but you can put it back where it was…”

Qin Xian unhesitatingly threw the bone back into the car and turned to the police officer. “Can I ask you a question?”

The police officer nodded subconsciously. “Ask.”

Qin Xian asked, “Recently, have there been any strange occurrences? For example, any supernatural events?”

This question clearly touched upon some internal classified information. The police officer immediately replied, “Comrade, don’t believe online rumors.”

Qin Xian pressed on, “For example, did a certain CEO die in Cuiyang Building this afternoon?”

The police officer’s expression turned grave. “Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, I work there, so of course I know. The entire building was alerted.”

This answer slightly eased the police officer’s tension, but he still put on a stern face and lectured in a serious tone, “If you are very concerned about this matter, please wait for the official police announcement. Don’t believe or spread rumors now. Don’t be too curious. By the way, please provide your ID number and mobile number.”

“Oh.” Qin Xian opened his mouth and said coldly, then searched his memory for a long time before stating his ID number.

It seemed that directly questioning the police would yield no information. However, a breakthrough had been made with the police. They had already come into contact with some supernatural events.

He could infer this from the police officer’s subtle expression just now.

So, should he apprehend a police officer and question him next?

No, assaulting a police officer was illegal.

Qin Xian looked in the direction of the man in black. The police had already taken him away, likely rushing him to the hospital for treatment.

This person would probably be detained at the hospital for the time being, which was the best opportunity to approach him and seek the truth. Once he was sent to the detention center, it would be troublesome to find him again.

It would be best to follow him to the hospital now, but…

He looked down at the bone in his hand, remembering the dog he had just picked up.

Alas, if he had known it would be so troublesome, he shouldn’t have gotten a pet. He couldn’t even go out peacefully.

But that dog didn’t seem to be in urgent need of feeding, and its wound had been treated. He probably didn’t need to rush back.

After weighing the options for a few seconds, he picked up the bone and hailed a taxi to the hospital.

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About ten minutes later, at the entrance of the Municipal People’s Hospital, Qin Xian stood holding a femur bone, looking at the towering hospital building.

As expected of one of the city’s top-tier hospitals, its scale was more than three times larger than the small hospital he had visited during his walk. Even at this late hour, people were still coming and going. The red lettering of the emergency room emitted an ominous red glow in the night, and the ambulance door at the entrance was open, someone having just been admitted.

He closed his eyes and sensed. Unfortunately, there was nothing unusual nearby.

At the hospital’s guardhouse, Qin Xian obtained a disposable mask, put it on, and headed directly to the emergency building.

Quite coincidentally, as soon as he entered, he saw the man he had hit with a bone, his face covered in blood, being placed on a gurney. A doctor was cleaning and disinfecting his wounds with medication.

The doctor performing the debridement was talking to the police:

“Wow, that was a brutal hit. Soft tissue damage to the nose, several front teeth knocked out. What did you hit him with?”

“…Uh, a cow’s leg bone.”

“What??? Was this a brawl at a vegetable market?”

Qin Xian listened to the conversation with an impassive face. He sat down on the nearest chair and waited until the other party finished their examination before continuing to follow them into the inpatient building.

The police officer handcuffed the man to the iron railing of the hospital bed, standing guard at the door of the room, waiting for the person inside to slowly wake up.

Qin Xian saw that the officer had no intention of leaving, so he turned and walked away.

He wasn’t in a hurry to find someone to question for now. After entering the building, he sensed an aberrant aura.

Unfortunately, after going up and down several floors, Qin Xian hadn’t truly triggered an aberrant event. Not until he was wandering back…

Author’s Note:

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I’m thinking about what nickname to give the protagonist, Qin Xian… If you have any ideas, feel free to comment. Those who are adopted will receive a red envelope.